Today was a bit of a blur. Honestly, I'm a bit Lewis and Clark'd out. The bicentennial of the expedition clearly reignited interest in the expedition regionally. As a result, we hit three, yes three Lewis and Clark parks. I'm looking forward to more real nature and fewer museums and pseudo-campsites.

Moving on, the first park, in Missouri, was simple but really reflected the landscape, which has finally changed markedly. I decided to try to set up and record the gusts of wind that swept across the patches of tall grass. Success! Unfortunately, I failed to capture the beautiful call of a bird. Strange when they seem to know when you hit 'record' and go silent or dart away.

After stopping at a cool museum with a second keelboat replica and a heavier focus on the wildlife that Lewis and Clark encountered we zipped up to Council Bluffs, IA and saw a beautiful monument to the expedition that overlooked the Missouri River valley with Omaha in the distance. This was, in fact, Lewis and Clark Park as well.

Just before sitting down in the tent to type this I had laid down to sleep when a chorus of dozens of frogs seemed to spring to life when my mind cleared and I zeroed in on the present. The frogs seemed to be in full on performance mode. The stereo phasing was fantastic and they were occasionally joined by a cry of a duck, which pierced their guttural polyrhythms. I grabbed my gear and set up near the shore of the tiny oxbow lake but was disappointed by just how loud the nearby traffic disrupted the natural sonic landscape.Hopefully a similar performance will happen later on our journey because it is a truly beautiful experience that will live on in my memory for some time. It's also a good reminder of just how much noise pollution humans contribute to the world and how isolated one needs to be to not feel the auditory presence of other people. It's also a testament to our ability to filter out 'noise'.

Woke up this morning and jetted to Sioux City, IA where I'm typing this, but before we left Lewis and Clark State Park in Onawa, IA we had to take pics of the third (and hopefully last!) keelboat.

Time to find a place to canoe. Korchnak seems skeptical that we'll find a place that'll allow us to have it overnight. I'm more hopeful. My dad and his best friend, my godfather, would canoe periodically in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota in the 1970s and I'd love to have a similar experience.

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Their Mission:

Lewis and Clark's mission was three-fold: determine whether a Northwest Passage existed, document the natural life, Native life, and geography, and establish diplomatic relations with Natives on behalf of the U.S. government.

Our Mission:

Korchnak and Bell's mission will also be three-fold: to recreate elements of Lewis and Clark’s journey, to establish cross-curricular connections between history and science drawing inspiration from the environment and history of the West, and to have a grand adventure that will energize us on a personal and professional level.